


Trusting is Hard

by susieutting



Category: Blindspot (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blindspot - Freeform, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Hiding Injuries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, I'm Sorry, I'm also really bad at summaries I'm sorry, Jane Doe | Remi Briggs deserves a break, Literally the only decent part of this is the writing, because i can't write anything else, injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:41:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28220331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/susieutting/pseuds/susieutting
Summary: Set some time during season 2.A new tattoo solved, a new case to investigate, but after everything that has happened, are they still a team?Or has too much damage been done?
Relationships: Edgar Reade & Tasha Zapata, Jane Doe | Remi Briggs & Kurt Weller, Jane Doe | Remi Briggs & Patterson, Jane Doe | Remi Briggs & Tasha Zapata, Kurt Weller & Tasha Zapata, Patterson & Kurt Weller
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Trusting is Hard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mcrningstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcrningstar/gifts).



> A couple of disclaimers - I don't know how Kurt takes his coffee, this is just to fit with the story, not a fact and I don't know whether there is a tattoo in this shape, but if there is, it has no connection to my version, this is purely for the fic :)
> 
> Also, this isn't beta read, so I apologise for any mistakes.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Jane steps out of the elevator into the FBI office and makes her way towards Roman’s cell.

"Morning," she says, smiling as she walks in and Roman looks up from where he is sitting on the floor.

"Hey," he returns her smile when he sees her and climbs to his feet.

"Even after I got you a better bed, you're still sleeping on the floor?” She watches as he approaches and he nods slightly, looking away from her. 

"Roman. Hey, look at me.” He obeys, meeting her eye, and Jane holds her palm up to the transparent wall. He copies her until they are both as close as they could possibly be with the barrier between them.

"I get it," Jane says quietly, and he smiles slightly. ”It’s not your fault.” 

She sighs silently to herself before dropping her hand and placing a takeaway coffee cup and a brown bag of food into the box to her right. Roman removes them and moves over to his bed. He utters a quiet thank you that she only just hears over the rustle of the paper bag as he pulls out the warm croissant that is inside.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket then, and she pulls it out, reading the message that flashes up on the screen. Patterson had solved another tattoo and was calling a meeting in her lab. 

She says goodbye to Roman before making her way down the corridor towards the lab. Weller calls her name as she pushes open the swinging door and she pauses, holding it open for him as he jogs to catch up.

“Morning,” he says, and she nods in greeting. Everyone else is already standing there, around the table, and as they walk in Patterson starts talking.

“This tattoo, shaped like an old set of weighing scales is the next one,” She gestures to the screen in front of her. “There’s also an eight-digit number, here, along the edge of the left weighing bowl.” She moves her finger along the line, pointing out the numbers which then move into a line over the image.

“Eight digits. So that's, what, a date? Coordinates? Case number?” Weller guesses. 

“Right third time,” Patterson points at him as he says the last one. It’s a case number for a Mr Daniel Perez.” She replies, tapping a key on the tablet in her hand and a picture of a young man with the name ‘Daniel Perez’ written underneath appears on the screen.

“Case number? Why didn't this show up earlier?” Reade asks. 

“The case was only made official yesterday when it went to trial which is why it took so long for the system I designed to pick it up. It was viewed by a Judge Palmer who dismissed it. Apparently, there wasn't enough incriminating evidence.”

“What was he charged with?” Asks Jane, voicing everyone else's thoughts and Patterson nods to Zapata, who takes over.

“Drug trafficking. But the best piece of evidence they had, a partial fingerprint linking him to one of the boxes from the truck, went missing. The judge said there wasn't enough proof, and so the case was overturned pretty easily. Seems there have been a few cases that were quite similar.”

“You think someone is paying the judge to reduce the sentences?” Reade questions.

“Maybe,” Patterson replies, “Or it could be someone else, we aren’t exactly sure.”

“The tattoo design relates to something people believed in ancient Egypt. When you died, your heart was weighed on a scale against a feather, the symbol of truth and justice. If your heart was heavier, your soul went to hell, if it was lighter, to heaven.” Reade smirks at Tasha, who sent him a mock glare in return.

“The part about truth and justice could relate to the judge,” Patterson adds, “Or it could just be about the legal system in general.”

“You got an address for Palmer?” Weller asks, and she nods.

“Sending it to you as we speak. I’ve also sent you a picture of him.” She confirms, just as everyone’s phones vibrate.

“Right. Jane, you’re with me, we’ll go pay the judge a visit. Reade, Tasha, you two try to figure out exactly how his case got dropped and what happened to that evidence. Patterson, try to figure out where Daniel Perez lives.” Everyone nodded and Jane and Weller made their way to the garage.

* * *

As they sit in the car outside, watching the judge's house, a car pulls up and someone matching the picture on Weller’s phone climbs out. They wait until he has walked up to the front door before climbing out, and making their way across the road. 

“Judge Palmer?” Kurt calls as he closes the gap between himself and the middle-aged man, who turns at the sound of his name. “Special agent Weller with the FBI, can we come in? We’ve got a couple of questions we’d like to ask you.”

The look on his face, although not hostile, isn’t one Jane likes, and as they follow Palmer into his house, she feels on edge. Palmer hung up his coat, stopping to fish his phone out of the pocket before he led them through into the kitchen. He places his briefcase onto the marble counter and turns to face the two of them. 

“Please, take a seat. Can I get you two anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?” He offers, and Weller nods. 

“Coffee would be good, yeah.” He answers. Jane still didn’t fully trust Palmer, he was a little _too_ friendly for her linking. Especially considering he was possibly dirty.

“I’m alright thanks,” she says, watching him out of the corner of her eye as he picks up the kettle and begins filling it under the tap.

She glances around the modern-looking room, taking in the possible exits. There is a back door which led to a neatly paved garden. There’s a gate at the end that she knows, from the information Patterson had sent, backed onto a small alley. The kettle finished boiling then, and Palmer poured hot water into two mugs.

“Cream or sugar?” He directs the question at Kurt, who replies.

“Sugar, just one.” He accepted the mug from Palmer with a small nod of thanks.

The house is a two-story semi-detached. Probably quite expensive, and although Jane wasn’t sure how much a judge earned in a year, it probably wasn't enough to afford a place like this. Everything is new, he even has the most recent model of oven, which doesn't look like it has ever been used. Of course, it didn't mean he was dirty. He could just have a wealthy family or have friends in high places.

“You sure I can’t get you anything?” He asks, directing the question at Jane as he sits down on a bar stool opposite where they are perched. “Not even a glass of water?” She shakes her head, and he sets down his own mug on the counter in front of him, then looks to Kurt. “What can I do to help you then Agent?” 

“Well,” Kurt begins. “It's about a case you had yesterday. Daniel Perez? He was charged with drug trafficking, but the key piece of evidence seems to have disappeared so the case fell through.”

“I’m not meant to talk about my cases,” Palmer says. “I know you’re FBI and all, but surely you can just get anything you need from the court and the case file?”

“It’s not just that case,” Jane continues. “There have been a number of others that were very similar to the one you had yesterday. All of them were dismissed due to lack of evidence.” The judge frowns at that.

“Yeah, now you mention it, I did notice quite a few of my recent cases have been rather short,” he replies slowly, still deep in thought. “The longer ones tend to stick in the mind, what with them having more evidence and facts.”

“The one we are most interested in is the one you had yesterday,” Kurt says as he pulls out his phone, showing Palmer a photo of Daniel Perez, and Palmer nods. “This guy got let off because the evidence disappeared, and we were just wondering if you might have any idea how that could happen.”

“Well, I- the evidence isn’t kept at the court so I’ve never seen it in person. I only see what is in the file they give me. You know, the photographs, documents, etcetera. I wouldn’t know where the evidence is all kept after the police record it.”

His phone suddenly rings then, and he glances at the caller ID. 

“Ah, sorry. Is it alright if I take this? It shouldn’t be more than a minute or two.” Weller glances at his watch before nodding, and Palmer picks his mobile up and leaves the kitchen, moving away from them and down the hall and into another room as he answers. “Hello?”

Jane knows there is no way for him to run without them seeing him, but something is still bugging her. The window of the room he is in is too small to climb out of, so she isn't too worried about him escaping. They sit there in silence for a few minutes before Weller speaks up. 

“Do you think Shepard wants us to take down the judge or is she trying to point out something bigger?” He looks at Jane, noting the bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. She looks back at him. Shepard, Roman, her family. They were behind all of this, and the FBI were still no closer to figuring out what phase two was.

“I honestly don’t know,” she admits, shaking her head, and a piece of hair falls across her face. She brushes it out of the way as Kurt takes another sip from his coffee. They can hear the muffled noise of a one-sided conversation through the wall, and Jane focuses for a minute, eyes closed as she tries to make out the words.

“Jane..” Kurt's voice is low and the word slightly slurred. She opens her eyes and looks over at him when he calls her name, noting the hunched position he is in. As he lifts his head slightly and looks at her, she could make out a disorientated look on his face.

“Kurt? What’s wrong?” She asks, but he just shakes his head in response, unable to speak properly. Jane walks over to the door, glancing back at Kurt before hurrying down the corridor towards the room that Palmer is in. 

“Hey!” She calls as she bangs her palm on the wooden panel and the door opens. Palmer pulls the phone away from his ear, covering the receiver with his hand. “Have you got a first aid kit or something?” He looks confused and so she carries on, but chooses her words carefully, not wanting to alert him too much. “Weller isn’t feeling too great.”

“Oh, yeah sure I'll bring it through.” He replies, moving back into the room. She nods and goes back to the kitchen. Weller is still conscious, though only barely, and Jane takes hold of his shoulders and shakes them gently to get him to focus. He blinks slowly but seems a little more alert. Her back is to the entrance, and when she hears footsteps making their way down the corridor she turns just in time to see Palmer standing in the doorway.

Before she can react, the judge fires and 50 thousand volts zaps through her body from the taser in his hand. Her legs buckle as she cries out, and she only just manages to catch herself on the edge of the counter, stopping herself from falling to the ground. 

She looks at Weller and sees his lips move, but can’t hear anything over the ringing in her ears. His eyes go wide when he sees what is happening, but when he tries to move, his limbs feel too heavy and there is nothing he can do to stop Jane collapsing to the floor, eyes sliding closed.

He calls out her name but it is barely a whisper, and then he too succumbs to unconsciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked it!
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always welcome, I'd love to know what you think! :)
> 
> [To Minttu, thank you so much for your edits and for getting me into this show, I hope you liked the angst, and I'll try to post chapter 2 soon! <3]


End file.
